The Bourne Legacy

[prettyxcool]

actually watching this made me smile at least 3 times because it reminded me of [spoiler]Mission Impossible II and its idiotic scientific plot[/spoiler], [spoiler]The Grey for very obvious reasons[/spoiler] and [spoiler]Terminator 2 during the police car/motorbike chase[/spoiler]. Anybody else thought of them?

Yay, me, *hands up*

Saw this at Odeon Covent Garden last night. As expected, ID checked before allowed in. Popcorn on seats. Lovely to see funthing, and had a nice catch up and comparing notes about Games Makers/Olympics.

Weak, cliched and predictable mush, lots of loopholes and such a flimsy story, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was entertaining and non-taxing. Thought the leads were great together, and did well with a weak script. I just went with the flow. 7/10

p.s. I never saw any of the other Bourne films, and it did not feel like I needed to, to be able to understand this one.

[Celini]

Who else was at Covent Garden then? I just saw sf from the distance!

[prettyxcool]

Who else was at Covent Garden then? I just saw sf from the distance!

I didn't see anyone else. I got there at 6pm and the whole back row in the centre was full already and funthing was sitting in the next row following so I joined her.

Where were you?

[ZoeBanfield]

Who else was at Covent Garden then? I just saw sf from the distance!

Hi,

I was there! :)

[kevinknapman]

This film has had a rather negative feeling about it since it was revealed that both Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon had passed on it.
As a result the film has always seemed like a rather desperate attempt to wring cash out of a franchise that should have been allowed to pass peacefully. I was constantly reminded of the issues surrounding the film throughout due to one of the aspects of the plot. Namely damage control. In the film that means clearing up after the mess created when Jason Bourne revealed the truth behind treadstone. In reality that means the lengths writer/director Tony Gilroy had to go to in order to make the film work without it's original star.

The film feels compromised as a result which is never a good way to start. The decision to have the story overlap with 'Ultimatum' doesn't really help either. Gilroy should have had the guts to breakaway from the original trilogy a little more. The constant references backwards feel a little clumsy and occasionally forced. Nor does it help that Aaron Cross's story is less compelling than Jason Bourne. With Bourne you had a man who has lost his memory and has to find out who is. With Cross you have someone who knows who he is but just wants to get his meds. Not exactly the best way to hook an audience. The script was also a little too exposition heavy and occasionally got bogged down in the scientific aspect of the story at the expense of moving the story on.

That's not to say there aren't any positives however. Jeremy Renner was a perfectly acceptable replacement for Damon. His scenes with possible threat/ally Oscar Isaac at the beginning were also impressively tense and well played (with his performance here and in Drive, Isaac is managing to make his awful turn in Sucker Punch a distant memory). Rachel Weisz was fine when she wasn't screeching and had decent enough chemistry with Renner. Edward Norton was also better than the film deserved and Zeljko Ivanek was suitably creepy as Weisz's work colleague.
There were also a handful of decent set-pieces. The scene in Weisz's house was pretty good (including True Grit's old Mattie Ross being sinister) and the shooting in the laboratory was tense and disturbing. The final motorcycle chase however went on a little bit too long, much like the film itself.

So The Bourne Legacy is watchable enough but unexceptional overall. Some decent action and performances can't quite hide the fact that it's covering overly familiar ground and taking a little too long doing it. I still think it has moments that make it worth watching but it should have been much better.

[Beate]

http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/friday ... rneathlon/

[stuartboy]

What Kevin said. ditto.

2 viewings of this as a standalone - without having seen Bourne 2 and 3, and the first 1/3 of the film makes little sense in parts as you are aware of references to previous. I was unaware of there being an overlap either. Taken for what it was you find yourself overlooking these references and accepting it for the yarn that it is and as it moves through act 2 and 3 to its climax some things drop into place and others drop unrequired by the wayside. Whilst clearly open to sequel(s), I can't see this continuing for another 1 or 2 films whilst adhereing to the same formula and having the ubiquitous chase scen near the end. Must be starting to wear thin. Sooner or later the average viewer is gonna notice and say..."Wait a minute. I've seen that before".

I'll give this a 6/10. Partly for some of the spectacular panoramic camerawork and and amazing zooms, and partly for originality (to me at least).

I liked.

[raj101]

the more I hear about this it, the movie comes across like a lazy reboot in all but faces.

[sunny hucknall]

watched bourne ultimatum last night on the telly.

this was the only one in the series i hadn't seen.

very, very poor movie. a series of chase scenes, broken up by dull exposition, all filmed by a cinematographer who appears to have the yips.

in the light of seeing this, i will rescore bourne legacy to meh & a half out of ten.

[Beate]

To bourne or not to bourne, that is the question...